Oyster Island

Oyster island is one of Sligos best known scenic landmarks and has significant links associated to Sligo history reaching as far back as the 16^th Century.

Embedded within Sligo Harbour between both headlands Rosses Point and Strandhill, Oyster Island is renowned for its 170 years old Lighthouse and neat cottages. It is within 180 metres of the shoreline at Rosses Point.

Between the late 16^th and 17^th centuries, The O’Connors of Carbury were in possession of Coney Island with numerous successors gaining reign of the Island over the latter centuries.

The Island was famous for its oyster fishery, with beds covering an area of up to seventy acres. The Island was at the centre of a major story in 1864 when the beds were raided by eight boatloads of men and twenty-five thousand oysters were taken.

From 1841, the population of Oyster Island had decreased from 28 which mostly consisted of lighthouse employees and their familiies to one solitary inhabitant as per a Census report in 1986.